Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-02-19
IMpRIs0NING THE SANE.

IMPRIs0NING THE SANE.
Ever since Reade's notable novel, in
which he exposed the horrors of private
Warehouses; in England, there has been
more or less speculation by all thinking
people as to the probability of sane per-
sons being committed to asylums for the
care of the insane We have generally
accepted the idea in this country that with
us there is very much less likelihood of
any unjust committal. Yet it is certain
that sane people have been incarcerated in
our asylums, and are now, and that exam
lining physicians, though sincere and con-
scientious, have been deceived and misled
into committing people to asylums who
were not of unsound mind. Probably this
conviction led the Legislature of Pennsyl-
vania, in 1888, to pass law by which in
mates of insane asylums can communicate
with an Independent Board of Inquiry
without the intervention of officers and
keepers in the asylums. That law led to
one woman, among Others, being dis
charged from the Harrisburg Asylum
who had been confined there twenty eight
years as insane, though she was not of I'M
sound mind at any time. In the North
American Reaaew for February, Adriana
p Brinckle tells her remarkable story.
1t is strange, yet simple, tale, told with
inelegance and bearing all the ear
marks of an unskilled writer, but it is
none the less pathetic and interesting.
Mr. Thorndike Rice prefaces the recital
with a note explanatory of the reasons
that led him to publish the story. 1t was
done to illustrate the inadequacy of the
laws to guard the liberty of citizens sus-
pected of insanity 1t is probable that
the asylums in California are as carefully
and well conducted as any in all the land,
and have as conscientious and humane
men for supervisors as any similar institu-
ton; nevertheless some people may be
committed to them, and instances are GER
titled to us of this having been done. 1t
is not impossible for conspiring witnesses
and interested relatives to compass such
removal Of a person from their path,
despite the examining physicians and
the Courts Since the Legislature Of
Pennsylvania has found that to be true
there, and has erected a Board to which
those unjustly imprisoned in asyiums may
freely complain, and has by experience
proved the wisdom, usefulness and human
ity of such regulation, it may not be I'M
profitable for our legislators to examine
the Pennsylvania statute, and ascertain
how far our laws may lack the precau-
tionary and remedial regulations that were
discovered but now supplied in the Pennsyl-
vania codes. Miss Brinckle being of
extravagant habits, was led into the
thoughtless disposal of furniture which
she had purchased upon the in
stallment plan. This defrauded her
creditors, and rendered her liable to prose-
cution. Her father, and another physician,
thereupon had her committed TO the asy-
lum at Harrisburg in order to prevent dis
grace attaching to the family name. Her
father frankly told her that she was to be
thus treated, and the cause for it, and that
the testimony and examination had been
false He was advised to take the step he
did by Justice of the Supreme Court,
who accompanied the woman to the asy-
lum, and represented to her that it was far
wiser to submit than to be exposed to a
criminal trial. During all the long period
she was incarcerated, she was so treated by
the keepers and officers as to impress her
with the belief that they knew her to be
perfectly sound in mind. Her recital of
life in the asylum is disconnected and not
satisfactory, but it illustrates the ease with
which sane people may be committed to
and confined in such institutions, and that
in this case the woman had the companion
ship in the asylum of other patients also
sane. One of these, she relates, fought his
way to liberty, crossed the Susquehanna
river, rallied his friends, who protected
him from the pursuing keepers, and gain
ing hearing in Court, established bis
sanity, returned to the asylum fortified
by decree, and secured his personal eff
fects. Another case was that of wife
placed in the asylum by thriftless hus-
band whom she had sued to compel him
to support his family. The fact that such
cases have existed, that such outrages are
possible even under carefully guarded reg
ulations, emphasize the need for extraor-
binary care in the law to prevent these
cruel invasions of the RICH. of human
beings to their liberty.